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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving means Giving Thanks.

There is a lot to be thankful for. And a lot to thank George Bush and his predecessors (and our ancestors) for.

I am thankful that I live in a time so prosperous we really believe that the current economic downturn is "the worst economic disaster" in history. Man, are WE spoiled.

I am grateful that I live in a time and a place where good health is so universal, far from worrying about horrific diseases, we have a pill for "Restless Leg Syndrome."

I am thankful -- especially as I watch the news from India over the last few days -- that this president has kept us safe from such attacks since 9/11.

I am grateful for a nation where Jews have it better than at any time and in any place in our long and often tortured history. I am thankful that "racism" in America is so non-existent that, in the past year or so, the "worst" example of racism even the race-profiteers could conjure up was some 67-year-old shock jock making a bad joke about basketball players using the "authentic" black vernacular.

I am thankful to live in a time and a place where disease is virtually unknown, a time a place where Ebola is unheard of and "Restless Leg Syndrome" our biggest health problem. I am grateful to live in a land of so much plenty that even the "poor" are fat.

I am thankful to live in a time and a place where "stand-up comedy" is a viable -- even lucrative -- profession. Telling jokes for a living? Could you image that in Anceint Egypt? How about in Africa today?

I am thankful in general. It's a trait I didn't always possess. I believe it to be now the core of my happiness and something I wish others would practice instead of their overriding sense of entitlement and the disappointement in not having everything they "deserve" simply handed to them. Whatever disappointments and hard times one may face -- to face it at this time and in this place is an unprecedented blessing, one for which I am eternally thankful.

48 comments:

Here is really something to be THANKFUL for:(for a much more comprehensive list of all the felons, weirdos and creeps we're getting rid of, watch Rachel's video--it's amazing)

What is it about the Bush administration that makes people so THANKFUL it's ending?

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow put together a list of Bush officials that have been indicted or resigned abruptly in order to recall "just how bad the bad old times have been."

Former assistant to the President Felipe Sixto was charged with stealing from a Cuba-related nonprofit organization. Edgar Johnson, who worked for the Department of the Interior, was charged with taking bribes. Julia McDonald, deputy assistant secretary at the Department of the Interior, resigned after an investigation found she gave government documents to lobbyists.

The number two person at the department of the interior, Steven Griles, was sentenced to 10 months as a part of the Jack Abramoff Scandal. Abramoff was also responsible for taking down Roger Stillwell from the Office of Insular Affairs, Robert Coughlin, who was chief of the criminal division at the Justice Department, and David Safavian, who was chief of staff in the General Services Administration.

Lester Crawford, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who resigned and pled guilty to holding stock in companies that he was regulating. Claude Allen was the assistant to the president for domestic policy. He resigned for a scheme of defrauding Target stores.

Brian Doyle was deputy press secretary for Homeland Security. He went to prison for child porn. Frank Figueroa also worked for Homeland Security as head of Operation Predator and got in trouble for exposing himself to a girl in a mall.

John Korsmo, chairman of the Federal Housing Board, was convicted of lying about inviting banks that he was supposed to be regulating to a fundraiser for a Congressional candidate. His wife -- deputy chief of staff at the Labor Department -- also lost her job in the scandal.

Head of the ATF, Charles Truscott, resigned for ordering employees to help his child with a school project.

Ken Tomlinson was chairman for public broadcasting and resigned after he was exposed for running a horse racing operation out of his office.

The executive director of the CIA, Dusty Foggo, pleaded guilty in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal.

Janet Rehnquist, who is daughter of the late Supreme Court Justice, resigned from her position as Inspector General after it was learned she delayed an audit of Florida's pension fund at the request of Jeb Bush.

Deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks David Smith, resigned after killing a buffalo and accepting the corpse as a gift.

Philip Cooney was chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and resigned when it was discovered that he revised scientific reports on global warming. A press aide at NASA, George Deutsch, resigned for keeping the governments' top scientist from talking about climate change.

The administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Thomas Scully, resigned after pressuring employees to say the medicare drug bill would costs less than it really would. Sean Tunnis, also of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, faked documentation about his medical education.

Bernie Kerik was going to be head of Homeland Security before he was indicted. Scooter Libby, the vice presidents chief of staff, was convicted on four felony counts of lying in the CIA leak case. And finally, Alberto Gonzales, who resigned from his position as Attorney General after being accused of lying to Congress about the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys.

On the other hand, I am truly thankful that our long, unnecessary nightmare is over and we have a president coming in who is sane, intelligent and decent...not that he'll be able to overcome the monumental damage that has been done by conservatism, but at least we'll be able to start working at it...that is truly a hopeful sign for this Thanksgiving:

Barack Obama and congressional leaders are preparing rapid legislation to cut US emissions that cause global warming and to kick-start a clean energy revolution.

Two bills are to be introduced as soon as the President-elect takes office in January. One will provide $15bn (£10.1bn) a year to encourage innovation in renewable energies as part of a thorough overhaul of the highly polluting US energy system. The other will pave the way to setting up a system of tradable emissions permits to combat global warming. The moves, to be taken quicker than expected, will galvanise top-level international negotiations on a new climate treaty that reopens in Poznan, Poland, next week, and will greatly boost attempts to bring in a "green new deal" as the best way out of the financial crisis.

Yesterday – as exclusively predicted in The Independent on Sunday three weeks ago – Mr Obama took the first steps towards creating green jobs, a crucial element of the proposed deal, as a top priority for his forthcoming administration. In his weekly radio address, he announced that he has ordered his advisers to produce an economic recovery plan that will create 2.5 million new jobs in two years by building windfarms, making solar panels and fuel-efficient cars, as well as in modernising schools and re-building crumbling infrastructure.

Senior Democratic sources added that the President-elect had picked Timothy Geithner, head of the New york Federal Reserve Bank to be his Treasury Secretary. "We are facing a sea change," said Barbara Boxer, the Democratic head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of the two new bills. "Instead of denial we will have resolve; instead of procrastination we will have action. The time to start is now."

The energy bill is expected to pass rapidly through the houses of Congress – in both of which the Democrats will have increased majorities – with some experts expecting it to become law by the summer. Sources close to the rapidly forming Obama administration say that it will include tax breaks to encourage wind, solar and other renewable energies, and the creation of a grid to deliver their electricity effectively. There will also be incentives for consumers to buy fuel-efficient cars, and for householders and businesses to conserve energy.

There will be massive investment in developing carbon capture and storage, which removes carbon dioxide from power station emissions. And the bill may include a bid to set a nationwide target for the amount of energy to be obtained from renewable energy. Most controversially, there is likely to be an increase in drilling for oil more than 25 miles offshore, not least to provide revenues to finance the energy revolution.

The climate bill will instruct the US Environmental Protection Agency to introduce a national "cap and trade" system for regulating emissions of carbon dioxide. This gives the polluters limits on what they are allowed to emit, but leaves them able to trade them; so those that clean up fastest will be able to sell unwanted permits to pollute to laggards.

Mr Obama wants to return US emissions of carbon dioxide to 1990 levels by 2020, and cut them by a further 80 per cent by 2050. Last week in a video address to a global warming summit he promised to set "strong annual targets" to achieve this. He added: "My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process."

Despite his commitment, some leading congressmen and even some environmentalists believe that a climate bill is unlikely to make it into law this year. Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the upper house's Energy Committee, said last week that it might have to wait until 2010, adding: "The reality is that it may take more than the first year to get it all done." This would imperil the international effort to agree a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is scheduled to culminate in a massive conference in Copenhagen in a year's time.

But hopes of early action rose dramatically last week when Democratic congressmen overturned their hallowed seniority system and replaced John Dingell, the 82-year-old chairman of the House of Representatives' crucial Energy and Commerce Committee, with a so-called "young Turk" in the shape of 69-year-old Henry Waxman. Rep Dingell has long been an old-school supporter of car-makers and other big industries and has obstructed tough anti-pollution legislation. By contrast, Mr Waxman is an ardent environmentalist who represents Hollywood and Beverly Hills and promises to make passing climate change legislation a top priority.

A killing originally considered an accident and then prosecuted as murder is now being described as a hate crime.

In September, the mutilated and dismembered body of Brandon McClelland was found lying in the middle of a road near Paris, TX. His death was at first thought to be the result of a hit-and-run accident, but later two men who had been seen picking up McClelland in their pickup truck earlier that day were arrested for his murder, and it was revealed that McClelland had been dragged for seventy feet under the pickup.

Paris, along with many other Texas towns has an uneasy history of racial divisions and charges of unequal justice. Last year, a fourteen year old black girl in Paris was sentenced to up to seven years in a youth prison for shoving a hall monitor.

One of the murderers, Shannon Finley, is alleged to have white supremacist ties, and the case has echoes of the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, TX. "That’s how they do black people around here," said a local activist working with the McClelland family. "To me, it smells like Jasper."

Adding to the complexity of the case, Lamar County's current district attorney served as the court-appointed defense attorney for Finley five years ago, when he was charged with manslaughter after shooting a friend in the head three times. Finley claimed he was attempting to fire at black robbers who had walked up alongside the truck where he and his friend were sitting.

McClelland attempted to provide Finley with an alibi in that incident, lying to a grand jury by saying Finley had been with him at the time, and wound up serving two years in prison for perjury. Members of McClelland's family now say that Finley fell in with white supremacists while in prison and that they had warned McClelland to stay away from him.

It appears that Paris, Texas, along with many other small southern towns, is a "sanctuary city" for racists. Finley had shot someone in the head three times only a few years ago and yet here he was free to commit another murder.

Yet the rightists in these communities insist that they remain free to roam the streets instead of being put in prison for appropriate lengths of time.

Why do they support murdering racist slime instead of the good and industrious people who they maim and kill?

Meanwhile, a young black girl is sentenced to seven years for PUSHING a HALL MONITOR. Any white kid would have been given minor detention in study hall for such and "offense."

You have to admire President George W. Bush, who on Jan. 20 will leave behind him what is arguably the worst US presidential legacy ever.

No sleepless nights over a global economy in freefall for him. No conscience haunted by the millions of souls, whose lives have been ruined forever due to his misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seemingly no concerns about his 24 percent approval rating, meaning he is more unpopular than even President Richard Nixon prior to his leaving office.

Watergate was an almost inconsequential misdemeanor when viewed through the prism of Bush’s secret executive orders, attack on civil liberties and wiretapping. And neither does he appear bothered that the media portray him as a buffoon, as anyone who tunes into Jon Stewart’s Daily Show or Letterman can attest.

Superficially, at least, he displays no regrets, no contrition. This is a man in a million, as few human beings elevated to his lofty pinnacle could remain so proud of their destructive handiwork. On Sunday, he boasted of his success in Iraq on a Japanese private network, adding, “Saddam was an enemy of the United States and a lot of people thought he had weapons of mass destruction.”

The fact is he did not possess WMD and since Bush came to office, the US has more enemies than ever. Bush says he’s “very pleased” at the Iraq war’s outcome, willfully myopic to the regional influence he’s gifted to Iran and naïve to the rancor against Washington that Iraqis will likely display once the American military presence is over.

And despite the fact his administration has been heaping pressure on the Iraqi government for months to sign up a so-called security pact, including threatening to withhold billions or Iraq’s cash, Bush insists the Iraqis have invited American troops to stay. It must be true what they say about Bush rarely reading newspapers or turning on the television unless there’s a game. Poll after poll evidences that 80 percent of Iraqis want a pullout now. In truth, it’s pretty amazing that one in four Americans still think he’s done a good job. We used to call Britain’s Tony Blair “Teflon Man” but no one deserves that tag more than Bush. Just cast your mind back to 2000 for a moment.

Then, America was wallowing in a fiscal budget surplus of $230 billion. Today, the country is drowning in a deficit of $455 billion and growing. Then unemployment stood at 3.9 percent. Now, it’s hovering around 6.5 percent -- 15 percent if you count all the unemployed whose benefits have run out and can’t find jobs.

In 2001, 32.9 million people were living below the poverty line. By 2007, that statistic had risen to 37 million. In 2000, it was estimated that there were 2 million homeless Americans. There are no figures for 2008 but amid mounting foreclosures there are growing reports of tent cities springing up and families resorting to sleeping in cars.

Moreover, 28 million people are now reliant on government food stamps to purchase essentials, said to be the highest number since the 1960s when the program was first introduced. With a credit crunch still biting, banks and financial institutions failing and stock markets headed south, Americans -- or at least a quarter of them -- must be the most forgiving people ever.

The rest of us aren’t likely to be as charitable. Those of us who value human dignity will not forgive the indignities suffered by people deprived of habeas corpus and tortured in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and an untold number of other US-run or -backed gulags around the world. Furthermore, we cannot forget Bush’s hollow promises to bring a Palestinian state into fruition by the end of this year when his lack of effort makes clear he had no such intention in the first place.

It’s hard to believe now but in January 2001 real progress was being made at the Taba Summit, but instead of capitalizing on the work done by his predecessor, Bush washed his hands of the whole affair and relegated the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to the status of persona non grata.

To add insult to injury, he embraced the new Israeli premier, Ariel Sharon, a war criminal responsible for the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. It was Sharon who sparked the second intifada and together with Bush killed the peace process.

Internationally, George Bush hasn’t put a foot right. He’s managed to alienate a resurgent Russia, which believes it’s in danger due to a US missile shield to be erected in Poland and the Czech Republic. And he has succeeded in pushing chunks of Latin America into the arms of Iran. His policies have also fueled a highly unstable Pakistan.

Perhaps the ultimate indictment of Bush’s legacy is encapsulated in the National Intelligence Council’s “Global Trends 2025” Report published last week. It predicts a world just 17 years from now where the US will no longer be an economic and political superpower, rather a mere “first among equals.” This will be a world beset by conflict over resources, rogue states and terrorist groups with access to nuclear weapons.

If it’s correct, then Bush’s ‘war on terror” and his neoconservative-inspired plan to ensure America’s global domination in the 21st century have not only failed dismally, they have backfired to hit Washington in the face. If Bush were a man on a mission to create a new world order wherein US hegemony would remain unassailable for all time, as many once believed, he’s not only fallen short of the task, he has actually brought about the reverse. Letterman and Stewart may have a point. Bush couldn’t have done any worse if he tried.

I'm thankful that the party that gave us Hoover and Bush and Depression I and II is so good at creating a huge soup kitchen, homeless shelter industry just in time for Thanksgiving...even though they would just as soon let those people starve or freeze.

It's pretty funny that you express some heartfelt sentiments about how there are things to be thankful for (and there are in this great country) and yet the "cut & paste" crowd can't help but try to crap all over it. I wonder what would happen if there was ever a worldwide survey of people asking them where they would live if they could live anywhere on the planet, my bet is America would be #1. "We" give thanks (genuine thanks) when we know that as imperfect as this country can be it's still great and it can and will be greater.

To the Bush haters: Get over it, put your energy into helping the new guy.

Great stuff, Evan. It's obvious from the troll infestation here that the left cannot even imagine the emotion of gratitude, let alone actually feel it. Modern Liberalism, as you call it, obviously has no use for such a concept. What a sad lot.

Here's a great rant along the same lines. I don't know if the guy's heart is really in it, or if it's just a (great) comic riff.

Evan can't protect himself from criticism by expressing his thanks for his "blessings" on Thansgiving. After all, it was he who injected politics into Thanksgiving by expressing gratitude for Bush's leadership. With appalling insensitivity, he said he was thankful for living in a country with a such a healthy population, ignoring the fact that 50 million poor souls, many of them children, are without health insurance. (By the way, comedians make good livings throughout the developed world).

It's obvious from the troll infestation here that the left cannot even imagine the emotion of gratitude, let alone actually feel it.

What is this moron missing? We've never been so thankful. Getting rid of you scumbags has been the best thing America has seen since the end of the last GOP reign of terror and idiocy when they threw Hoover out. There's a whole new feeling of hope and gratitued in America not seen for decades...mixed with the fear that the damage you've wrought this time has gone too far to ever correct.

What vulgar, right wing consumerism and obsession with money combined with economic disaster brings:

Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

Police tape surrounds a Wal-Mart that was the scene of a deadly stampede.

Augustine for News

This photo was taken moments before the Wal-Mart store opened.Related NewsPhoto GalleryWal-Mart stampede, caught on cameraBlack Friday frenzyArticlesNYers make mad dash for dealsBlack Friday shopping tipsRetailers optimistic about Black FridayA Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WAL-MART CROWD MOMENTS BEFORE DEADLY STAMPEDE"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.

The cause of death wasn't immediately available pending results of an autopsy.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries, cops said.

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.

"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."

The prisons are filling up with these thugs...utterly amazing. There's never been a plague of corruption like it!!

Five more members of Congress being probed in bribery affairJohn ByrnePublished: Friday November 28

Five other members of Congress are being probed in association with the bribery scandal linked to former California Republican congressman "Duke" Cunningham, according to a little-noticed legal filing discovered Thursday.

The 42-page sentencing memo was published online by Seth Hettena, an author who has published a book on Cunningham. It was made by the attorney for Mitchell Wade, the former defense contractor who pleaded guilty to bribing Cunningham in 2006 who has cooperated with the government in their investigation.

In addition to the five current or former members of Congress, numerous government employees and several private contractors are also under scrutiny.

Of the five Congressmembers, two are formally under investigation and three are being examined for their "receipt of straw contributions" -- contributions made to members of Congress in an effort to get facilities opened in their districts. Investigators are also looking at a member of Congress for accepting undisclosed gifts, the crime that sunk Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens this year.

According to the filing, the five are being probed for "corruption similar to that of Mr. Cunningham." Cunningham, 64, was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2006; Wade faces sentencing Dec. 15. His cooperation with prosecutors has resulted in guilty pleas or conviction for seven other individuals, the sentencing memo said, which seeks to have his sentence reduced to a fine and five years' probation.

Cunningham expert says Katherine Harris likely among those eyedThough none of the additional congressmembers are named, Hettena believes they are "no doubt" Republican Reps. Virgil Goode and Katherine Harris. Harris became famous during the Florida recount in 2000, was elected to Congress in 2002, and was defeated in 2006. Goode represents Virginia and was narrowly defeated in November.

Harris may be the member of Congress who underreported campaign contributions. Wade took Harris to dinner at the posh French Georgetown restaurant Michel Richard Citronelle the year before her electoral defeat which cost $2,800, according to Harris' former political strategist Ed Rollins; members of Congress are supposed to report any gifts larger than $50.

"Prosecutors drop tantalizing hints about an even bigger, ongoing investigation," Hettena notes. "Wade was debriefed in 2006 and provided 'moderately useful' background information in another 'large and important corruption investigation' that also has not yet resulted in any charges."

An element of particular interest that remains unresolved is who utilized escorts and limousines another convicted contractor provided and who attended private poker games at the Watergate hotel.

Brent Wilkes, another contractor who went down in the Cunningham affair, used the services of Shirlington Limousine.

"He was a winer and a diner," the company's owner told the Hill in 2007. "He liked to take people to eat. If a young lady gets in the car, or he asks us to pick up a young lady, we don't know who it is. We're drivers."

Shirlington sued the Department of Homeland Security after they dropped the firm as a contractor following the revelations.

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized the United States and NATO, demanding a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces. Karzai's comments came late Tuesday in a speech to a U.N. Security Council delegation visiting Kabul, the capital, this week. He accused the international community of failing 'to fight the Taliban properly' since the U.S.-led war in the country began in 2001."

Wow! Five of them in one sty. This is the kind of thing that will be lingering through the coming election cycle and reminding people why we got rid of these corrupt fools...I see more big gains for an unprecedented third time in 2010.

I am thankful for family and although that is so cliche, I have such a wonderful husband and a 15 year relationship that others admire. He's very much a family man and great provider for our family.

I have two boys who are compassionate, intelligent, talented and God-fearing individuals who think for themselves.

And on that note I am thankful as I look around at other families that are dysfunctional and the kids are disrespectful and rude and I realize that we are so lucky that we have children who truly love us and trust that how we run our home is in their best interest. My 12 year old will come up to me out of the blue and give me a big hug and thank me for all I do for him. Maybe thats normal, but with want I see in the world today I don't think so.

I am thankful that my father with Alzheimers was having a "good day" yesterday for Thanksgiving and just a month ago he moved around on a scooter and now after 4 weeks of physical therapy he was able to walk with a walker yesterday. (my father is only 57 so this has been very hard for me)

I am thankful that my mother is my main source of wisdom because she is a woman of virtue who usually gives me the best advice on life's problems.

I too am thankful for a president who has kept me safe over the last 8 years and I am thankful daily, as I look around at our world, that I was born in the best country in the world where I am free to practice my faith without being killed for it and that I belong to a wonderful church of people who share my values.

When you find the value in these things-no matter how the economy goes you can still make it where others who put their value in money and "things" fall apart during times of crisis.

But I AM thankful that during this economic downturn, my husband and I have managed to make a lot more money this year than any other year in our 15 years of marriage. God has been so good to us and there just aren't enough words to show my gratitude, but we have chosen to be much more charitable and give more to charities and church because we have been so lucky.

I came here expecting to read a blog about something more political, but I am grateful that you took the time to stop and be thankful and in turn helped me to slow down and really reflect on what is truly important after a crazy day of shopping and waiting in line since 3:30 am this morning.

I'm thankful for a lot in this world, but I'm most thankful for the fact that we are so free that even a bunch of elitist naysayers that frequent this blog and other places CAN voice their oppinions, even if they're wrong and stupid. They have that right. If this country were really as bad as they say it was they would never be able to say what they do. WE wouldn't be allowed to say what we do either.

That being said, the trolls on here are rampant and I'd love to use my grandpa's rifle on them for target practice. :D

Typical, violent wingbat. When they're not spouting idiot religious shit, mawkish family values homilies, odes to greed, hatred for the environment and the planet that sustains them, spinning trivialities into class hatred, muttering coded racist evils or intoning nationalist righteousness and hatred, they're talking about killing anyone who doesn't join them in their backwardness and evil.

In Michael Wolff’s forthcoming biography of Rupert Murdoch, “The Man Who Owns The News,” the author writes that the media mogul has seemed to turn away lately from his cable news network, and isn’t fond its top-rated personality, Bill O’Reilly.

“The embarrassment can no longer be missed,” Wolff wrote, in another section of the book. “He mumbles even more than usual when called on to justify it. He barely pretends to hide the way he feels about Bill O’Reilly. And while it is not that he would give Fox up—because the money is the money; success trumps all—in the larger sense of who he is, he seems to want to hedge his bets.”Wolff describes Murdoch as not wanting News Corp. to be defined by Fox News. And so last year’s purchase of the Wall Street Journal, he wrote, “was in no small way about wanting to trade the illiberal—the belligerent, the vulgar, the loud, the menacing the unsubtle—for the better-heeled, the more magnanimous, the further nuanced.”

Everybody knows how President-elect Barack Obama's amazing campaign money machine was dominated by several million regular folks sending in hard-earned amounts under $200, a real sign of his broadbased grassroots support.

Except, it turns out, that's not really true.

In fact, Obama's base of small donors was almost exactly the same percent as George W. Bush's in 2004 -- Obama had 26% and the great Republican satan 25%. Obviously, this is unacceptable to current popular thinking.

But the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute just issued a detailed study of Obama's donor base and its giving. And that's what the Institute found, to its own surprise.

"The myth is that money from small donors dominated Barack Obama's finances," said CFI's executive director Michael Malbin, admitting that his organization also was fooled. "The reality of Obama's fundraising was impressive, but the reality does not match the myth."

Adding up the total contributions from the same small individuals (in terms of dollar amounts, not their height), the Institute discovered that rather than the 50+% commonly....

...reported throughout the campaign, only 26% of Obama's contributions through last August and only 24% through Oct. 15 came from people whose total donations added up to less than $200.

The key word there being "total."

It comes down to which definition of "small donor" you accept:

Someone who donated to the Obama campaign by scraping together $199, period.

Or someone who donated $199 to the Obama campaign several times, perhaps totaling close to the $4,600 legal limit for the primary and general elections. In aggregate, that would vault him/her out of the small donor category that was so useful to the political campaign's public relations campaign portraying the donor base as about two times as broad as it really was.

The reported numbers show that Obama actually received 80% more money from large donors (those giving $1,000 or more total) than from small donors.

Through the Democratic National Convention, the Institute estimates, Obama received $119 million from genuine small donors, an impressive sum, to be sure.

But not as impressive as the $210 million he'd raised by then from bundlers and large donors.

"After a more thorough analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC)," the CFI study says, "it has become clear that repeaters and large donors were even more important for Obama than we or other analysts had fully appreciated."

So, the wealthy in America have finally realized what a disaster to the economy the so-called business party is and understand that the GOP is as bad for business as it is for everything else it bungles.

Filthy sociopaths seeking to poison workers...the GOP is not a political party; it is a vile collection of the various motley scumbags of America:

Eleventh-Hour Rush to Enact a Rule That Obama Fought

Robert Pear, The New York Times:

"The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze 'industry-by-industry evidence' of employees' exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers' health."

"There may be assorted intellectuals and ideologues in the party, maybe even a few centrists, but there is no longer an intellectual or even ideological wing. The party belongs to McCarthy and his heirs -- Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Palin. It's in the genes."

In an exclusive interview with Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a DC based non-profit dedicated to a clean and accountable government, a former Diebold vote machine contractor who was in charge of preparing the 2002 election between Saxby Chambliss and Max Cleland has stated that the software patches placed on the voting machines in the weeks prior to the election could have rigged the election in favor of Republican Chambliss. The contractor, Chris Hood, was ordered by the President of Diebold, Bob Urosevich, to secretly install uncertified software patches on machines in predominantly Democratic counties, according to Mr. Hood. Saxby Chambliss won a surprising victory after trailing badly in the pre-election polls. The interview with Mr. Hood, posted by Velvet Revolution ("VR"), can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKnIghBsU58. Rebecca Abrahams, a former ABC News producer who conducted the interview, states, "Jim Martin should be concerned about the veracity and validity of the runoff election results after anomalies in the last election and the statement by Chris Hood. In fact, voters should demand to know if Chambliss had any knowledge that the 2002 election was rigged and whether he knew that Georgia citizens voted on electronic voting machines that had been patched with uncertified software days before the election in clear violation of Georgia law." Stephen Spoonamore, a cyber security expert and lifelong Republican, has also stated that he believes that the 2002 Georgia Senate race was rigged in favor of Chambliss. "If you look at the case of Saxby Chambliss, that's ridiculous. The man was not elected. He lost that election by five points. Max Cleland won. They flipped the votes, clear as day." Spoon said in another exclusive interview posted on YouTube by VR at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzKbigGoMoo. VR has been working with whistleblowers who have stated that the GOP, under the direction of Karl Rove, has been using computers to change election results. In order to protect the runoff election from such manipulations, a federal RICO lawsuit is being pursued in Ohio to take depositions from those who have been implicated in this illegal strategy. Last week, the attorneys in that case sent document holds to Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel asking that she retain all memory cards and hard drives used in the runoff, and all documents related to uncertified patches. Cliff Arnebeck, the lead attorney in that case states, "Karl Rove has made a career out of rigging elections. Electronic voting machines like those being used in Georgia are his favorite tool, so this important race cannot be watched too closely." Complete coverage of this suit is at www.rovecybergate.com. VR is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Saxby Chambliss election rigging.

GIBSON: Do you feel in any way responsible for what's happening? BUSH: You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President.

Today Barack Obama held his fifth news conference since winning the presidency, and for the fifth time, he refused to call on a reporter from FOX. Fishbowl DC has been keeping track. As we've been documenting, Fox News hasn't gotten a question in during President-elect Barack Obama's five press conferences since the election. Today was another. Questions instead went to such outlets as ABC, New York Times, CBS, Reuters and the Associated Press.Despite his one appearance on The Factor, Barack Obama has made clear his disdain for everything FOX News. It's pretty refreshing to see a Democrat realize that he doesn't need to grovel to FOX, no?

An Ohio man in a high place at a conservative Christian school is accused of soliciting sex in open air.

52-year-old Robert Williams, Chief Financial Officer of Cincinnati Christian University, was arrested with two others on Saturday, said to have "manually stimulated" an undercover police officer in Mount Airy Forest. He is charged with sexual imposition.

Police sting operations have brought attention to figures such as outgoing REPUBLICAN,U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who in August 2007 pled guilty to a charge related to soliciting sexual activity in a Minneapolis airport restroom, and former REPUBLICAN Florida lawmaker and McCain co-chair Bob Allen, said to have sought to perform fellatio on an undercover officer in exchange for cash at a public park in July 2007.

The Defense secretary says the new U.S.-Iraq security agreement changes the conversation from debating a timeline for withdrawal to figuring out how to reduce troops responsibly.

By Julian E. Barnes December 3, 2008 Reporting from Washington -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he accepted President-elect Barack Obama's approach to scheduled troop reductions in Iraq, arguing Tuesday that the hotly debated subject of timelines for withdrawal largely had been settled by a new U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

"That bridge has been crossed," Gates said a day after he formally agreed to remain as Obama's Defense secretary. "And so the question is: How do we do this in a responsible way?"

Blog: Top of the TicketProfile: Robert M. GatesRobert Gates agrees to stay on as Defense chief under ObamaPolitics daily newsletterThe security agreement, approved last week by Iraqi officials, requires U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities and towns by June 30 and to withdraw completely by the end of 2011. Obama wants combat troops out within 16 months, but has indicated he would take security considerations and advice from commanders into account.

By staying, Gates becomes the first U.S. Pentagon chief to be carried over from one administration to the next. In a Gallup poll released Tuesday, 80% of Americans surveyed supported Obama's decision to keep Gates.

But Gates will have to manage a sharp change in policy, shifting from working for a president who has supported a high number of troops in Iraq to one who has repeatedly said he intends to quickly withdraw combat troops.

Saying that his tenure would be "open-ended," Gates promised during a Pentagon news conference that he would not be merely a caretaker as secretary. He hinted that he planned to put some muscle behind his rhetorical critique of Pentagon spending priorities and to overhaul the way the military buys weapons.

He also said that closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be a high priority, but could require new legislation, such as a measure preventing former detainees from seeking asylum in the United States.

And Gates said that the next request for emergency war funding, an estimated $83 billion, would be delivered to Congress in a matter of weeks. If approved, it would bring the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to about $947 billion.

Obama assembled an experienced team of strong-willed national security experts, and Gates said that he expected there would be differences of opinion. But he emphasized that Obama would make the big strategic decisions.

"The president-elect has made it pretty clear that he wanted a team of people around him who would tell him what they thought and give him their best advice," Gates said. "There will no doubt be differences among the team, and it will be up to the president to make the decisions."

Although he is remaining in his job, Gates has told other political appointees that they should expect to be replaced as the Obama transition team moves to install its own team in the Pentagon.

"The truth of the matter is, when I came here two years ago every single position was filled by somebody who had been appointed by somebody else," Gates said. "And I think it's worked out OK."

After the news conference, Gordon R. England, the deputy Defense secretary, announced that he would leave his post. Transition team members have said that Richard Danzig, a close Obama advisor, is the leading candidate to replace England.

In Washington, there had been debate over whether Gates, who was not registered in a political party, would fulfill Obama's promise of placing a Republican in his Cabinet. Gates, who worked at the CIA from 1966 to 1993, said he had not registered as a member of a political party because he believed that politics should not color the job of an intelligence analyst.

But he added that before now, his senior appointments in government had been under Republican administrations, and that he considered himself a Republican.

Gates first spoke with Obama about remaining on the job at a secret meeting inside the firehouse at Reagan National Airport, shortly after the president-elect met with President Bush last month at the White House. Aides to Obama never revealed that the airport meeting involved Gates.

"They pulled the trucks out so that our cars could go in," Gates said.

For months, advisors to Obama, including Danzig, had raised the possibility of keeping Gates on. Publicly, Gates had said that remaining in his post was "inconceivable," and he repeatedly referred to a clock he kept to count down the days to the end of the Bush administration.

On Tuesday, Gates said he had "thrown away the clock."

The question of troop withdrawal timetables has been deeply divisive. Many Republicans and military officers have bitterly opposed Obama's stance. Now, however, with the U.S.-Iraq agreement in place, Gates said he could subscribe to Obama's view. He noted that the president-elect had indicated a willingness to be flexible.

"He did talk about the 16 months in terms of combat forces," Gates said. "But he also talked about a responsible drawdown and that he was willing to listen to the commanders."

Gates also faces internal battles over Pentagon spending. He has long criticized the Pentagon, saying it favors complex and costly cutting-edge weapons at the expense of cheaper systems that could be produced quickly and sent to the field.

With the Bush administration's time in office limited, Gates has deferred a string of important decisions dealing with the future of the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets and refueling tankers.

He reiterated his support for building up American "soft power" by investing more in the State Department.

Gates said that the new administration would need to discuss how to improve those capabilities, how to work with Congress to find more funding, and where that money should come from.

The author of a new book about media mogul Rupert Murdoch says that Murdoch's negative feelings about Fox go far beyond a personal distaste for the crude O'Reilly's bullying.

According to Wolff, the real issue is that Murdoch has "come to like the liberals more than the conservatives -- and many of them have come to like him, too. ... His life is now largely spent around people for whom Fox News is a vulgarity and a joke."

"He saw a market niche," Wolff explained. "It was easy to get into, it was easy to service these people, it was cheaper to service these people, and he went for it. ... He saw a money-making formula."

Wolff explained, "One of the interesting things about Murdoch is that he is -- how would we say this? -- henpecked." In the 1980s, Murdoch was influenced by his second wife, who was "classically, and in a doctrinaire way, a Catholic conservative." But "now he's with a woman 38 years his junior, quite young, quite liberal, quite open, and certainly engaged with all of the Hollywood people."

The president's comments about an intelligence failure on WMD in Iraq is the closest he's come to publicly reconsidering the invasion.

December 4, 2008

In a valedictory interview with ABC News, President Bush has come closer than ever to acknowledging that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a mistake -- but not close enough. In Watergate parlance, Bush's concession is a "modified limited hangout."

"The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq," Bush told Charles Gibson. "A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein." Given that Bush previously has acknowledged that there were, in fact, no WMD in Iraq, and that Iraq had no connection with 9/11, the fair inference is that the war was unnecessary.

That impression is strengthened by Bush's answer to Gibson's follow-up question. Asked if he would have led the nation to war if U.S. intelligence had concluded that there were no WMD, the president reverted to the annoying equivocation that has characterized his reactions to other administration missteps. "That's an interesting question," Bush replied. "That is a do-over that I can't do."

Of course Bush can't un-invade Iraq, but you don't have to be capable of time travel to admit that discrediting the principal justification for war also discredits the war itself. Such an admission wouldn't change the fact that, as even President-elect Barack Obama concedes, U.S. involvement in Iraq can't be undone overnight. It doesn't even undermine Bush's argument that, once in Iraq, he had an obligation to "win."

It might seem churlish, at this late date, to ask Bush to make a frank confession that a war that has killed more than 4,200 Americans was based on a mistake. After all, other figures in Washington -- including Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton -- were misled about the WMD threat. It's also possible that Bush believes that to admit he erred in invading Iraq would be to endorse the charge by his harshest critics that he deliberately deceived the American people about the threat posed by Hussein.

Still, welcome as his latest remarks are, they fall short of the recognition of reality that would have been cathartic for Bush and for the nation.

ETHICS -- KBR GAVE TROOPS ICE TAINTED WITH 'BODY FLUIDS AND PUTREFIED REMAINS': A former technician who worked in Iraq for scandal-ridden contracting company KBR in Iraq has filed a class-action lawsuit saying the company "exposed everyone at Joint Base Balad in Iraq to unsafe water, food and hazardous fumes from the burn pit there." Joshua Eller's suit includes particularly disturbing charges about KBR's indifference to proper sanitization and the disposal of human remain. "The lawsuit also accuses KBR of shipping ice in mortuary trucks that 'still had traces of body fluids and putrefied remains in them when they were loaded with ice. This ice was served to U.S. forces,'" the Army Times reported. Eller also accused KBR of failing to maintain a medical incinerator, meaning that "medical waste, such as needles, amputated body parts and bloody bandages were burned" in an open-air pit. Earlier this week, several Indiana National Guard soldiers also filed suit against KBR saying they were "exposed to a carcinogen while protecting an Iraqi water pumping plant shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS -- REPORT: ABORTION DOES NOT LEAD TO LONG-TERM DEPRESSION: A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has shown that there is no scientific support to claims that "an abortion causes psychological distress, or a 'post-abortion syndrome.'" The team reviewed 21 studies involving more than 150,000 women and found that there are "no significant differences in long-term mental health between women who choose to abort a pregnancy and others." "The best research does not support the existence of a 'post-abortion syndrome' similar to post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. Robert Blum, who led the study published in the journal Contraception, said in a statement. Researchers found that only "studies with the most flawed methodology consistently found negative mental health consequences of abortion." Despite the lack of scientific support for the abortion-depression link, conservatives on the Supreme Court cited it when they ruled against late-term abortions, saying that "it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained."

The Labor Department reported this morning that 533,000 jobs were lost last month, and unemployment surged to 6.7 percent. The job losses are much higher than the 300,000 losses that analysts predicted. This is the 11th straight month of job losses and the largest monthly decline since 1974. Nearly 2 million jobs have been lost this year.

Yesterday, the Interior Department "unveiled a new rule that challenges Congress’s authority to prevent mining planned on public lands." Congress has "emergency power to stop mineral development, and has used it six times in the last 32 years" but Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne "has ignored that Congressional directive, saying it was procedurally flawed."

New financial disclosures show that the RNC spent "a total of about $180,000 for clothes and various accessories for the family of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin," including expenses at outlets like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Toys R Us and Victoria's Secret. The McCain campaign paid Palin's traveling makeup artist $68,400, "and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work."

55 percent: The share of Americans who back President-elect Barack Obama's plan to move U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey. Sixty-three percent oppose the war in Iraq, whereas 52 percent "favor" efforts in Afghanistan. More »

The Supreme Court plans to meet today to decide whether to hear a case challenging President-elect Barack Obama's right to be president based on his citizenship at birth. Justice Clarence Thomas picked up the petition to hear the lawsuit "after it was denied by Justice David H. Souter." Thomas "referred it to the full court, which decided to distribute the case for the judges' conference."

Between 2004 and 2007, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) steered $79,560 in campaign cash to an Internet company run by his son, Steven Rangel, for a pair of "poorly designed" political Web sites. "This is probably legal but is definitely wrong," said Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center.

The Blackwater Worldwide guards who shot and killed 17 Baghdad civilians in 2007 could face a mandatory 30-year prison sentence. Prosecutors, who could issue charges as early as Monday, might use a 1988 drug law that "calls for 30-year prison terms for using machine guns to commit violent crimes of any kind, whether drug-related or not."

Over three years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Democratic Congressman William Jefferson's home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.

It took three years for Louisiana voters to finally get rid of him... and that only because the existing Democrats in the House wouldn't lift a finger to censor or expel the rotten apple from its' barrel.

"In conclusion, I believe the CRA is an important model for designing incentives that motivate private-sector involvement to help meet community needs. The CRA has, in fact, been helpful in alleviating the financial isolation of many areas of concentrated poverty, but as our report illustrates, there is much more that could be done in these communities. Contrary to the assertions of critics, the evidence does not support the view that the CRA contributed in any substantial way to the crisis in the subprime mortgage market. Today's discussion is an important first step in the process of identifying other initiatives and areas of cooperation between government and the private sector that will effectively address the continuing challenge of poverty in the United States."

The CRA and the Fannie/Freddie excuses were pathetic attempts to divert from the total failure of the "free"/unregulated market AGAIN.

If these idiots could think about economics rationally instead of with quasi-religious fervor we wouldn't keep having these destructive periods in our history.

Capitalism failed before socialism did...in the great crash and all the other great crashes before that one...and now, unbelievabley, we had to learn that once more. Only a judicious and accurate mix of the two systems does it

When asked about what he thought of the worker revolt, Obama responded: “When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right. What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy."

Happy days are here again!

Obama could have chosen to sidestep the question. After all, if either the owners of Republic (who some workers claim plan to move the business offshore) or Bank of America asked the police to remove the workers for trespassing, they'd be cleared out in a New York minute, because the law is on the side of management and banks.

But Obama risked upsetting all the goodwill with the "establishment" he had built up with his cabinet appointments by wholeheartedly and vigorously backing the plight of the Republic workers and those throughout America.

On Wall Street and "K" Street, there may have been some fear and trembling when Obama continued his answer:

When you have a financial system that is shaky, credit contracts. Businesses large and small start cutting back on their plants and equipment and their workforces. That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain a strong financial system. But it’s also important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren’t just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, but they are designed to get money out the doors and to help people on Main Street. So, number one, I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.

Number two, I think it is important for us to make sure that, moving forward, any economic plan we put in place helps businesses to meet payroll so we are not seeing these kinds of circumstances again,’’ he said. Have we done everything that we can to make sure credit is flowing to businesses and to families, and to students who are trying to get loans? And to homeowners who have been making payments on their homes but are still finding their property values so depressed that it becomes very difficult for them to make the mortgage payments?

That’s where the rubber hits the road and that’s going to be the central focus of my administration.